Aquino discretionary funds hit P102B in 2 years — solon

By Charlie V. Manalo
The Daily Tribune 

A practice during the previous administration of generating huge discretionary funds for President Arroyo through the use of savings, mostly forced, from a past year remained intact under President Aquino, a member of the House of Representatives said yesterday, adding that a total of P102 billion in discretionary funds was granted Aquino from 2012 to this year.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said the practice was preserved by the Aquino administration through a Palace circular.

Colmenares said Aquino should account for the projects on which his huge discretionary funds were spent.
Colmenares said the discretionary funds of Aquino which are equivalent to his own pork barrel totaled P75 billion last year and P27 billion this year which were juggled from various agencies.
Colmenares said National Budget Circular 541 issued by Malacañang required funds in various government agencies that remain unobligated or not

earmarked for an existing project be centralized to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) by June 30 of every year so that it could be realigned to “cover additional funding for other existing projects.”

However, the solon added that Paragraph 5.7.3 of the same circular also allows the “centralized fund” not only to be used to augment existing programs of any agency but also to “fund priority programs and projects not considered in the 2012 Budget but expected to be started or implemented during the current year.”

“This provision could be constitutionally infirm,” Colmenares said.
“This could be interpreted to mean that projects or amounts not approved by Congress will be funded by public funds in violation of the constitutional requirement that no public funds shall be disbursed without appropriation by law,” the solon stressed.

“Malacañang should explain what projects were funded under paragraph 5.7.3 and the amounts realigned thereto because with this circular Aquino practically enjoys ‘unli’ or unlimited pork,” he added.

Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad admitted during the budget hearing Wednesday that P75 billion came from at least eight underspending government agencies last year which are the Department of Transportation and Communication (DoTC), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DoH), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Abad even argued that the provision “projects not considered in the 2012 Budget” in NBC Circular 541 still pertains to existing projects approved by Congress.
For 2014, the President stands to receive P100 billion in pork which Abad says Aquino intends to use to fund projects of the aforementioned agencies.
Colmenares, however, disagrees with Abad saying “the language in the circular is clear, and it says ‘projects not considered in the 2012 Budget.”
“In any case, the best way to resolve this is for Malacañang to give Congress documents showing how much were centralized and which projects they were spent on. We will wait for Secretary Abad’s promise to provide Congress with a list of said realignments,” said Colmenares.

“The fact, however, remains that this is an almost unlimited presidential pork barrel because it has been suddenly transformed into a lump sum amount and allows the president to choose projects and beneficiaries for the said fund. And this does not include the billions of pesos in Pagcor funds given to the Presidential Social Fund and the billions more in Malampaya funds which give the President the authority, similar to members of Congress, to spend the funds on projects and beneficiaries he chooses or favors,” the lawmaker said.

Colmenares also asked Malacañang to explain the discrepancies found in the budget submitted by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) if only to ensure transparency.

“Strangely, the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF) reported higher amounts of funds actually obligated by agencies in 2012 than that reported in Malacañang’s National Expenditures Programs (NEP) Table B. Worse, there are conflicting amounts appropriated for the various agencies in the same NEP book. It does not augur well for transparency that such billion peso discrepancies exist in the government budget which could have resulted from the multitude of realignments made by Malacañang,” said Colmenares.

“I am sure the Commission on Audit (CoA) is having a hard time tracing these realignments. In the end however, the real issue is the abolition of pork barrel. Whether it is congressional or presidential pork barrel it is a source of corruption and it has to be abolished now,” the solon said.

Another Partylist Representative said while the P2.268 trillion national budget for 2014 is oozing with pork, not a single centavo was allotted for salary increases for government employees next year because the Aquino administration claims that would entail a huge amount of money.

Act teachers Rep. Antonio Tino yesterday lambasted the Aquino administration for failing to provide for a salary increase in the government sector while President Aquino gifted himself with more pork than he could wallow in.

“There’s money for pork but not for salary increases,” said Tinio. “The President has proposed P25 billion for legislative pork barrel funds despite intensifying calls for their abolition in the wake of revelations of unprecedented levels of graft and corruption. Meanwhile, for the second straight year, teachers and other government employees will be denied badly needed salary adjustments.”

“There’s money for corruption, but not to ensure that honest civil servants are given decent salaries,” he added.

The P25 billion budget for the lawmakers’ priority development assistance fund (PDAF) is on top of Aquino’s own P100 billion pork.

Tinio noted that the last time government employees received a salary increase was in 2012, as provided for in the four-installment Salary Standardization Law III (SSL III) enacted during the term of former President, now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Tinio explained that, unlike in the private sector, where minimum wage levels are reviewed annually, public sector salary levels are set by law.

“Malacañang and Congress must work together to authorize and appropriate the funds necessary for salary adjustments in government,” Tinio said.

“When will the Aquino administration grant a public sector wage hike? Will they make public sector employees suffer until the presidential elections in 2016? Unfortunately, Secretary Butch Abad has only said that they are still studying the matter. As for as public school teachers and other government employees are concerned, they need it now to keep up with the rising cost of living,” the solon lamented.

During Wednesday’s budget hearing, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad justified the no-salary increase for government employees policy of the administration saying it would entail a huge amount of money.

“Provisions for increases in salary of government workers are not provided. We need to assess, study what has been the impact of wage hikes and determine if another round is needed because it would entail huge money,” Abad told lawmakers Wednesday at the start of the budget hearing at the House of Representatives, as he stressed that personnel services, which include state employees’ salary, already constitute a huge chunk of the budget.